Lobbying and "log-rolling" in 1850 Indiana USA

[Stephen Goranson]

Michael McKernan

I looked up the text at Hathi Trust and did a small search for log rolling.

http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt/search?id=njp.32101064096686;view=image;seq=5;q1=%22oyster%20suppers%22;start=1;size=10;page=search;orient=0

By the way, when I first in school encountered political "log rolling"--the cooperative "Do you help me roll my log, and I'll help you roll yours" as put in Daily National Intelligencer, (Washington, DC) Friday, April 11, 1823; Issue 3195; col E--I may have confused it with competitive, adversarial log rolling, in which a state fair lumberjack or a Disney Davy Crockett tried to keep balance on a floating log and send another into the water. Congressman Crockett apparently (?) knew both senses.

I have no special knowledge of "oyster suppers." Are you suggesting a metaphorical sense?

Stephen Goranson
http://www.duke.edu/~goranson

________________________________________
From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] on behalf of Michael McKernan [mckernan51 at GMAIL.COM]
Sent: Saturday, April 07, 2012 1:18 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: [ADS-L] Lobbying and "log-rolling" in 1850 Indiana USA

Actually, the full quote from 1850 is:

What is the mode of obtaining a disputed claim under the present system?  Why
recourse is had to “lobying,” [sic] “log-rolling,” “oyster-suppers,” and it
is greatly to be feared, to other appliances still more reprehensible,  by
which legislators are rendered supple and pliant.

So Goranson's comment on oyster suppers is right on target.  Since my
interest in this actually IS the oyster suppers, and why they're included
in this list of political "appliances,"  I need to ask Stephen how he came
to include them (OS) in his post.

Thanks for the OED entries!  Any other comments/discussion would be welcome.

Michael McKernan
Benson, Arizona

On Sat, Apr 7, 2012 at 8:28 AM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> Subject:      Re: Lobbying and "log-rolling" in 1850 Indiana USA
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> At 4/7/2012 08:42 AM, Stephen Goranson wrote:
> >My unofficial guess is that "log-rolling" may
> >refer to legislators trading votes (in-house
> >quid pro quo), whereas "lobying" could be
> >practiced by non-legislators, for instance,
> >buying legislators "oyster suppers," in hope of getting the vote sought.
>
> I don't think an"oyster supper" (although it probably started as
> turtle suppers) quite qualifies as lobbying by itself.  The event
> would also have to include button-holding, cajoling, intimidating,
> etc., and that would be the lobbying, not the supper.
>
> Joel
>
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